So many lost dogs pop up on my Facebook page – lost in the real sense of lost, as in looking to be reunited with their owners, and lost in the sense of not having a home to return to and needing someone to provide a new one. The red tricolor Australian shepherd looked just like Cooper.

But it wasn't him. Cooper, like many Aussies, doesn't have a tail, his having been docked when he was probably two or three days old. This dog had a big plume of a tail.

Cooper has been lost – in the first sense – since Sept. 30, when his owner, Gordon Carnie, was getting him and his family's two other Aussies out of the car to see a new groomer. Cooper, first dog out of the car, became spooked, slipped his collar, and went running west on Ventura Boulevard in Sherman Oaks.

Carnie, his wife, Janet, tells me, is in a four-year-long struggle with pancreatic cancer. Constant on-and-off chemotherapy treatments since 2008 have left him weak. That, coupled with Cooper's speed, made catching the 6-year-old pup impossible.

Many folks might make a half-hearted effort to find their dog. They might occasionally check the shelters, or at least their websites. (Not the optimum solution. Not everyone at every shelter identifies dog breeds the same way; one person's Australian shepherd might be another's border collie. Look at just the breeds and, if someone's gotten it wrong, you might never find your dog.)

Not Janet Carnie.

"I'm obsessed," she told me in a phone conversation. Her obsession isn't just because Cooper is a loved member of the family, which comprises Janet, Gordon, sons Daniel and David and two other Aussies – Coco and Josie, both females. It's also because this is something she can control, unlike cancer, which often leaves us feeling very out of control.

"We're in the fight of our lives," she said. "The only way Gordon can stay alive is to stay in constant chemo. I know the dogs sense it. They know he's not well. ... We didn't need to lose our dog at this time."

But, she adds, "With Cooper, I can put up fliers. I can hire people. I can get robocalls."

And she has done all of that, and more.

In addition to posting fliers everywhere in the San Fernando Valley area near the Carnies' Sherman Oaks home and near where Cooper disappeared and setting up robocalls to ask people to be on the lookout for him, Janet has hired Sarah Sypniewski of Santa Monica to head the effort to find Cooper.

Sypniewski created a Facebook page – "Cooper the missing aussie dog" – and has been leading a group of volunteers who are coordinating flier placements, keeping an eye out for Cooper, and following up on leads.

Posted Sunday afternoon on the site: "**POSSIBLE SIGHTING** Got a message just now that was left late last night. Around 6:30 or 7:00 pm last night, dog matching Cooper's description was seen traveling southbound on Canoga Ave near Chase ... Owners are doing a follow up call, but in the meantime, if anyone is available to throw some flyers up in the area, that would be awesome!"

That isn't a rare post on the site.

I started following Cooper's story a couple of weeks ago, and my heart just went out to the Carnies, to Sypniewski, to everyone joining in the fight – for a fight it is, as Janet said – to find Cooper and bring him home. Janet said he was seen several times in the weeks after he was lost, but, as happens in these cases, sightings have fallen off since.

But maybe Saturday evening's sighting will be the miracle the Carnies need.

I hope it leads to Cooper coming home. I hope and pray that will happen. What a beautiful Christmas present that would be.

The Carnie family is offering a $2,000 reward for Cooper's return. Anyone with information should call 818-486-6895. PHOTO COURTESY JANET CARNIE
Cooper, left, and Coco. Cooper is shy, owner Janet Carnie says, and should be approached slowly if he is spotted. PHOTO COURTESY JANET CARNIE
Cooper has been missing since Sept. 30, when he slipped from his owner's grasp and took off running. PHOTO COURTESY JANET CARNIE
Cooper at home, where his family wants him to return. PHOTO COURTESY JANET CARNIE
Cooper's family has been scouring the San Fernando Valley, following up on leads, in hopes of bringing the Australian shepherd home. PHOTO COURTESY JANET CARNIE
The Carnies' canine clan, from left: Cooper, Coco and Josie. PHOTO COURTESY JANET CARNIE

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